Faded grey light remains
Above faded and worn buildings
Standing silent in a city turbulent with renewal and change
One by one apartment lights blink on.
A sunny Sunday has now passed into twilight
At peak afternoon heat
Streets stood empty; sidewalks stayed clear.
Seems everyone ran down to the water’s edge.
Trams were packed as people rushed to feel
The cooling breeze at the river, at the ocean on a hot, hot, day.
They crammed together shoulder to shoulder, ignoring reality
This new plague still rattles the elder’s bones, stretches tired sinews
Shakes the afflicted first with cold then burns them with heat from deep inside.
A simple journey carries with it the threat of life changing illness or death
Will the unmasked man three back coughing spread the malady to all about?
Did the person singing along at the concert unknowingly
Breathe malicious microbes on all those within the sound of her voice?
To a mere mortal the truth of transmission is unknowable.
Life is filled with vagaries, and
Buffeted by cascading systems failing, and is
Never promised, never assured.
Now black of night is what remains
Apartment lights against a black sky are beacons of survival, of hope.
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